Fast-moving blazes destroyed a record number of homes in southern Georgia. One person has died and more than 600,000 acres of cattle ranches have been destroyed in the largest fire in the state’s history across the Nebraska Plains. And in the Los Angeles suburbs, an unusually fast fire broke out, prompting evacuation warnings for thousands of people.
This spring’s wildfire season was far from calm.
Wildfire activity across the United States has reached historic levels this spring and is likely to worsen in the coming months, experts say. About 30,000 fires have broken out across the country since the beginning of this year, the highest number in nearly 20 years. More than 2 million acres have burned, double the average for the past 10 years and the largest loss in 14 years.
The Southeast has so far seen the most fires in the nation, with fires burning closer to population centers than usual. But the largest outbreak occurred in the Great Plains, where strong winds pushed the flames into towns. The West has already experienced unusual early and destructive events, raising concerns about a dangerous fire season.
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“We’re in May and we’re talking about people losing their homes and losing their lives,” said Morgan Burner, director of research at the Tall Timbers Institute and Land Conservancy in Tallahassee, Florida. Several factors “point to a very bad year” in many regions, he said.
These include expected changes in weather patterns due to low snow cover, abundant vegetation, drought, and the ongoing “Super” El Niño, all of which are adding to an underlying warming climate and intensifying hot, dry conditions that promote fire ignition and spread.
Regionally, these are the most notable wildfires in the U.S. so far and the biggest concern heading into the summer.
Fires in Georgia commonly occur between March and May, but this year has been a historic year for fires.
More than 3,000 fires have burned 83,000 acres in the state since the beginning of the year, according to data from the Georgia Forestry Commission. This is almost double the number of fires and eight times the area burned by this time compared to the previous five years.
“We’re in a drought, and the drought is getting worse starting in late summer 2025,” said Thomas Barrett, forest conservation officer for the Georgia Forestry Commission. “It took this long for it to finally get to the worst of it.”
On top of that, weather systems have brought more dry air and strong winds to the region, creating the perfect firestorm this season, he said. Forecasts from the National Interagency Fire Center predict increased fire activity through July, until summer thunderstorms subside.
“We always keep in mind that this is the peak and that it’s going to start coming down in a few months,” Barrett said. “Everyone who lives in the southeastern part of the country is in pretty much the same boat this spring.”
Unusually, fires are also occurring near populated areas, particularly in Georgia.
The Highway 82 fire in April, believed to have been started by party balloons that fell onto power lines, destroyed more than 120 homes, Barrett said. This is probably the most burned area in state history since record-keeping began in the 1950s. Some fires sent smoke hundreds of miles away as far as Atlanta.
Just to the south, in Florida, fires burned tens of thousands of acres near Jacksonville and outside metro Miami, spreading smoke into rarely seen communities.
“We’re in an area where we don’t see very many wildfires,” Varner said. “I’m coughing and smoking while cutting the grass and looking at the azaleas.”
So far, most of this year’s wildfires have occurred in southeastern states, particularly Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. Wildfire activity has increased in the region in recent decades, with studies showing that changes in vegetation and climate are the main causes.
As firefighters scrambled to extinguish the blazes, Varner said many states were unable to carry out their planned firefighting efforts, which involve burning vegetation that has grown up in managed areas to prevent wildfires from spreading.
In Florida, the number of prescribed fires executed is about the lowest it’s been in 25 years, he said. Across the Southeast, “nearly every state is about half of where it should be.”
“The question is not just what will happen in late May this year or what will happen in late summer,” he says. “It’s a rollover, a kind of carryover effect that affects next year.”
On March 12, the Morrill Fire destroyed 110 miles of grassland in western Nebraska in less than a day. The fire raced through the town of Oshkosh, with the fire department advising residents to turn on their sprinklers until additional help arrived. Winds made containment difficult, and the fire ultimately burned 642,000 acres, making it the largest in state history and the largest in the country this year.
The Plains region, particularly Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, and South Dakota, accounted for some of the most burned land this spring. Nebraska alone has seen 25 wildfires, accounting for about 40% of the U.S. wildland fires as of May 21, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Like the Southeast, the Great Plains has been experiencing months of severe drought and this season has been hit by high winds and low humidity, which helped fan flames from craters onto dry grasslands.
The number and size of fires in the Great Plains is increasing as the weather gets warmer and drier. According to a 2017 study, the total area of fires has increased by 400 percent since the 1990s, and the number of fires is also increasing each year.
Fire season typically doesn’t get into full swing in the western United States until summer and fall, but firefighters are already at work. It could be a devastating start to the year, especially in California.
A wildfire has burned off the coast of Southern California, burning more than 17,000 acres on Santa Rosa Island. Santa Rosa Island is home to many rare plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Massive fires in Riverside and Ventura counties also prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people.
“Most of the western United States has had a pretty unusually dry winter, and that’s what people are really concerned about,” said Craig Clements, professor of meteorology and director of the National Science Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Center for Wildfire Research.
Historic heat in March melted snowpack to below-normal levels across Southern California, causing plants to dry out more quickly. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, river basins from the West Coast to Colorado in the southwest are also at less than 20% of normal levels.
Forecasters expect above-average wildfire activity in California, the Southwest and the Great Basin as the summer progresses. Rains in April and May add more greenery that can provide fuel for fires. The ongoing El Niño is likely to bring more dry thunderstorms to the region, as well as an increase in the number of fire-starting lightning bolts.
“What I’m concerned about is whether we’ll have a prolonged heat wave followed by dry lightning,” Clements said. “Everyone is expecting it, but it depends on what the weather forecast does.”
